Hi guys! Just another one-shot I have, a rather long one-shot that is (perhaps two or three chapters. Does that even count as a one-shot? No I don't think it does... Fine. It's not a one-shot.)... In every good cartoon there's always one episode where someone (usually either the leader or the youngest or the cheeriest of the group) is sent to a hellish or unpleasant future, and so I wondered what a hellish future of TF:A would be like. Please don't take this so seriously- well to a certain point anyway. I'm going to go hide because some people might be displeased about certain 'bot's and/or people.

Disclaimer: I don't think I need to tell you guys that I don't own Transformers Animated or any of the characters. Besides I think I morphed them horribly into oocs. Yes, I did draw some inspiration from the TMNT episode "Same as It Never Was" so you'll probably spot some similarities.

Warning: Violence. Lots and lots of violence (not in the beginning, but it builds up). Maybe some cursing.

Same as It Never Was

Chapter One

... ...What happened? How did he get here? These questions and thoughts similar were the only thing he remembered himself asking.

After Bumblebee slowly onlined his optics, he found himself lying uncomfortably on his side, atop of pieces of rubble and remnants of concrete. His processor stung as if someone had used it for shooting practice, while his entire chassis ached; the result of moving so quickly after awaking from a stasis sleep. Taking a few moments to recuperate and allow the remainder of his system to reboot, Bumblebee glanced around with half expectance to see the same usual buildings, roads, etc. of Detroit, but there wasn't any possible way that this...this...vestige...was the same Detroit that he knew.

What was this desolate place? Barely standing shards of aged buildings stood, where Bumblebee remembered great, giants once towered. Ruinous streets ran bare, aside from the many cracks that was etched into them. Even the sky, that was once a gentle blue, was twisted into a dark, foreboding gray above the city. Bumblebee's internal cycle programming told him it was the daytime according to Earth's standard, but if that was true, then where were all the humans?

"Hello?" Bumblebee called out hesitantly, hoping so deeply that someone would answer.

No answer.

"Hello?!" Bumblebee called again, with anxiousness accompanying his voice, but still after a few cycles passed, once again there wasn't an answer.

Maybe he could contact the others on his comm.-link. It's not like he had any other option now. Yes. That would be the best thing to do. So venting a sigh through his vents, Bumblebee slowly brought his index digit to temple of his helmet and activated his communicator.

"Hey this is Bumblebee! Anyone read me?" Bumblebee spoke hopingly. "Bulkhead? Ratchet? Anybody there?" Bumblebee asked quietly, his tone becoming more piteous and desperate with every word he spoke. "Prime? Prowl?..." Weird. It was like there were no other frequencies online. How was that even possible? Was he truly the only here?

A sound of incoming rotors is what broke Bumblebee from his pondering of what to do next. Swarms of the little police bots swarmed down from the sky and surrounded Bumblebee in mid-flight. At first he thought there must have been a robbery or something going on, but after realizing that these little machines were aiming at him there lasers, Bumblebee began to think otherwise. "Attention. Autobot spotted. Prepare for imminent comprehending for Lord Megatron.." One of the 'bots ordered montonely.

"What?" Bumblebee questioned skeptically. Megatron? Did that thing really just say Megatron's name or was his processor frizting?

"Surrender or suffer the consequences." The same machine said, while it and the others began to charge their lasers.

Bumblebee took a step back, placing his servos on his pelvic arch. What on Cybertron was going on here? Normally Bumblebee would have no trouble with the pesky fliers (as he proved when he first met Sari), but this wasn't a normal situation. It appeared that they had a modification; they were slightly larger then the previous ones and each individually was branded with the Decepticon symbol. What next? Starscream joining the Autobots?

"Resistance is futile. Surrender." The unemotional voice began and suddenly released a bolt of neon lasers that skidded past Bumblebee's faceplate and uppermost of his frame. The other 'bots followed and suit and released wave after wave of lasers at the yellow mech.

Quickly, Bumblebee darted to the closest area that could be used as cover. He plunged behind a bulky slab of concrete approximately nine or ten feet away from where he was standing. Switching his hand like servos to his stingers, Bumblebee turned over and aimed above the concrete. Haphazardly Bumblebee locked onto one of the nearer 'bots firing at him and returned a few short yellow jolts.

"I'm slagged!" Bumblebee whimpered after seeing that his attacks were having no effect on the flying machines. It seemed like they were built with more protection on the plating; Bumblebee's lasers were only reflected off. "Man where's Bulkhead or Ratchet when you need them."

As if on a ironic, but fortunate for Bumblebee, queue, a familiar wrecking ball swerved into the scene and sent a good dozen crashing into a side of one of the crumbling buildings, after giving them a good clobbering. The silhouette of what Bumblebee thought to be his enormous, oil guzzling, companion leaped down from one of the rooftops and began to ruthlessly swing at the machines, which by now had turned their attention on the large 'bot attacking them and focused the lasers on him. Undeterred, Bulkhead shook off the advances and allowed the blasts to impact on him as he maneuvered the steel ball to strike machine after machine. As the number of flying 'bots diminished, the number of lasers fired at him shrank away as well. To add a finishing touch, Bulkhead grabbed a piece of rock nearly the size of Bumblebee's alternate mode and hurled it towards the few remaining robots.

If it were any other time, Bumblebee would have commented on how long it took the big hulk to come help him and made a big deal about it, but for once he was glad that Bulkhead made it in time.

"Good thing, you got here in time buddy." Bumblebee murmured with a sigh of relief, while reverting his stingers back to his regular servos. The flying machines had finally all been destroyed. "Why didn't you answer me on the comm.-link though Bulkhead?" He asked moving from the shelter of the concrete and taking a step forward, trying to focus his optics on his friend. Oddly, Bulkhead's form was darkened deeply by shadow.

"So...," Bulkhead's voice slowly began, but never moved from the shadow's cover, "the little coward finally came back." The voice added with a venomous grunt. Somehow Bulkhead's voice was different. It wasn't a different voice module or anything. Instead it was just a colder and maturer one then Bumblebee had last heard from Bulkhead before he woke up in this nightmare.

"Coward? Bulkhead what are you talking about? I didn't go anywhere!" Bumblebee replied in his own defense.

"Bumblebee! You've been gone for twenty stellar cycles! What were you thinking?" Bulkhead's voice questioned; fueled solely on rage.

"Twenty stellar cycles?!" Bumblebee repeated in shock. How could that be? "That's not possible!"

"It can and it is. How could you just abandon us like that?! We were a team! Because of you...they're..." The anger and sorrow expressed in his voice was quite obvious. Bulkhead wasn't lying, despite how much Bumblebee wanted him to be.

"Bulkhead...I would never leave you guys! I-I...just woke up and found myself here. I don't even know how I got here!" Bumblebee pleaded. He couldn't believe that Bulkhead, of all people, would accuse him of something so ridiculous. Bumblebee could feel the larger robot glaring up a solar storm at him in silence, despite the lack of visible visage. You would have to have bad optics and horrible audio receptors to not notice the tension in the air.

Hearing the vents in Bulkhead's pedes slightly rev up, Bumblebee realized that his much larger friend was taking a few steps forward. Bumblebee was almost relieved in thinking that Bulkhead's anger had simmered down enough for him to come out from the shadows, but it was soon replaced in doubt to think how much Bulkhead had changed. His gentle, yet klutzy, happiness seemed to of evaporated. While Bumblebee was "gone" were things really that bad?

"We should get back to the base now." Bumblebee heard Bulkhead mutter behind him. He turned to give the large 'bot an agreeing smile, but his faceplate allowed horror to overcome it.

Standing where he expected Bulkhead to be wasn't Bulkhead at all. Bumblebee was utterly shocked and dazed to see Lugnut's purple and green chassis with Bulkhead's arm units and stabilizing servos.

"Shocking isn't it?" Lugnut's mouth moved, but Bulkhead's voice filled with odium repulsion came out, instead of the deep, scratchy one of the Deceptcion. "After eleven long stellar cycles, I'm still disgusted by it."

"Bulk...head..." Bumblebee stumbled on his words; his optics never leaving that of Bulkhead's "body". "W-what...what happened Bulkhead?"

"Heh. Lugnut and I got into a good scrap a while back. I was able to get him offline, but my chassis was too damaged to be salvaged. Luckily Ratchet was still around to give me a spark transfer by using the EMP. Poor 'bot though...Without Sari's key, the EMP was too much of a toll on him and his old chassis..." Bulkhead explained dryly.

"You mean Ratchet's...offline..." Bumblebee murmured in daze of disbelief, not really meaning it as a question, but as an inconvenient truth.

"Yep..." Bulkhead assured him with a harsh tone, while Lugnut...err.. Bulkhead's face plate made a flinch of sorrow as his single optic narrowed dimly. "He joined the well of AllSparks quite some time ago. But he isn't the only one we lost ever since Megatron gained control of the AllSpark."

"That's not possible! Bossbot and Megatron battled it out on the Ark, but Megatron shattered the AllSpark..."

"Have you fried your circuits Bumblebee?! You were there! Long enough to see Megatron get the AllSpark anyway... Your disappearance seemed like an omen of what was to come. Megatron used the AllSpark against us and more importantly to begin conquering Earth and, we got our afts beaten badly. No matter how many times we tried to stop him, it was always the same result every single time. Sure we all tried our best to keep fighting; it took a toll on us after a while. Especially Prime. He cracked under the pressure and just left one day, though I always thought that Prowl would be the first to abandon ship. No idea if Prime's still online or not, but I could care less about that back ho-less leader."

"I don't understand...How did this..." Bumblebee spoke out loud sadly. This wasn't the Earth he knew. This miserable place wasn't the precious home he slowly came to enjoy. All the lights of the city, the unintended harmony of the people talking, what Bulkhead was, their team...

"Prowl's the same stoic ninja-bot." Bulkhead continued on, most likely not hearing the yellow mech's small protests. "Well he's the one to change the least out of us anyway. I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not. I mean he is more bitter these days, but who came blame him? Ever since Sari..."

"Sari?!" Bumblebee snapped in attention, just at the mention of his human friend's name. Bumblebee couldn't believe how stupid he was. Sari's welfare hadn't even crossed his processor until that moment. "Where's Sari Bulkhead?!"

Bulkhead heaved a heavy sigh and bowed his head, shame written all over his faceplate. "She's...gone Bumblebee... Blitzwing saw to that nearly eighteen stellar cycles ago..." He whispered hatefully.

"No..." Bumblebee couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it! There's no way that Sari was gone. It just wasn't believable. Then why was his spark trying to tell him otherwise? Why was it pulsing angrily underneath his chest plate? Allowing himself to slide sorrowfully to the concrete beneath his feet, Bumblebee found himself glaring at pale concrete below him. What if it was his fault that this happened? What if it was his fault that Sari was gone? He wasn't there to protect her, even if he didn't know how he got here in the first place. "No! No! No!" Bumblebee cried in rage. He drew back his hand and curled it into a fist. Hastily he slammed the tight fist into the ground and raised it back into the air before the pounding the ground once more.

"Sari thought it would be a good idea to use the key on Megatron...Turn your back for just a nano-kilk and she's blown up...Sari isn't the only one we lost since then though..." Bulkhead stated sourly. "After Megatron forced Professor Sumdac to build his robot army, he studied the schematics and decided that Sari's dad was unnecessary. There's also Captain Fanzone. Poor guy was stomped on by Megatron like he was an ant-droid...It's funny 'Bee...You never notice how much you miss a guy who always gripes about how much he hates machines until he's gone..."

"Bulkhead...This future...It's a nightmare...This wasn't supposed to happened! At least, not like this!" Bumblebee cried, breaking Bulkhead from his reminiscing. If Bulkhead were still naive as Bumblebee was, he would agree with the small yellow 'bot, but after all that he had witnessed during the past twenty stellar cycles, Bulkhead knew that he could not bring himself to it. This constant war and fighting had changed him greatly. He had no cheery outlook on his cycles anymore and as every orbital cycle dragged on, the small hope he held for a change died more and more.

"Things never go the way you want them to." Bulkhead replied coldly and suddenly his entire body shifted over itself; he was changing into his vehicle mode. "Let's go. If we stay here any longer, more of those machines are bound to be back." Bumblebee's optics carefully studied the truck before him. It wasn't quite like Bulkhead's large van form, but still stood similar in size. This green and purple vehicle was more like a camper truck with a large and roomy cover on the backside.

When Bumblebee realized that Bulkhead was pulling off without him, he quickly switched to his small yellow police car and sped after him.

Well...what do you all think? Do you like it? Do ya? Do ya? Well, just let me know in a review if you enjoyed it. If you're surprised now, then just wait 'till the next chapter. Over and out!